LECTURE 4 STRESS!. What Is Stress? What is Stress? Stress is a dynamic condition in which an...
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Transcript of LECTURE 4 STRESS!. What Is Stress? What is Stress? Stress is a dynamic condition in which an...
LECTURE 4
STRESS!
What Is Stress?
What is Stress? Stress is a dynamic
condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, a demand, or a resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important.
Do you think stress is always bad?
Is Stress always bad?
Stress is not necessarily bad in and on itself. Although stress is typically discussed in a negative context, it also has a positive value. It’s an opportunity when it offers potential gain. In short, some stress can be good and some can be bad.
WHAT DO YOU THINK A STRESSOR IS?
Stressors
Potential Sources of Stress (Three main categories) Environmental
Factors: Economic Uncertainty (like job security)
Political Uncertainty (in the government)
Technological Change (new innovations can
make an employee’s skills obsolete in a very short time).
Potential Sources of Stress (Three main categories)
Organizational Factors Task Demands
(Factors related to a person’s job like autonomy, task variety)
Role Demands
(Relates to pressure placed on a person as a function of the particular role he/she plays in the organization)
Interpersonal Demands (Pressures created by other employees)
Potential Sources of Stress (Three main categories)
Role Demands: Role Ambiguity: Uncertainty surrounding job definitions or job expectations • Role Conflict: Superiors have varying expectations of their employees which they many times cannot meet • Role Overload: Asked to do more than time or ability permits. • Role Underload: The opposite; too little work. • Ethical Dilemmas: E.g. report unethical behaviors
Potential Sources of Stress (Three main categories) Personal Factors Family Problems (marital difficulties,
difficult children)
Economic Problems (overextending their
financial resources)
Personality (negative aspect of
the world)
Family issues (e.g., marital difficulties, breaking up of a
relationship, children discipline problems) Personal economic problems (e.g., many
people have wants that always seem to exceed their earning capacity)
Inherent personality characteristics (e.g., a significant factor that influences stress is a person’s basic disposition)
Career concerns (lack of job security, status incongruity, i.e., less status, power and prestige than people think they deserve)
Geographical mobility(geographical moves)
WHICH OF THE THREE FACTORS DO YOU THINK CAN CAUSE THE BIGGEST STRESS AT WORK?
Individual Differences
Individual Differences refer to what differentiates people in terms of their ability to handle stress. What moderates the relationship between potential stressors and experienced stress.
Four potential variables have been found to be relevant moderators:
Perception Job Experience Social Support Personality
Perception
One person may feel that the possibility of losing a job can be something devastating and another might see it as an opportunity to move on to something better. It depends on the way he/she perceives things.
Job Experience
It is negatively correlated with work stress levels. The people who stay in an organization, within time develop mechanisms to cope with stress
Social Support
Relationships within the organizational environment. It can help release negative energy.
Personality
People who are quick to anger, maintain a persistently hostile outlook, and project a cynical mistrust of others are at increased risk of experiencing stress in situations.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS?
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
Physiological Symptoms
Recent research demonstrates that stress has harmful physiological effects. Changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increase blood pressure, headaches, and induce heart attacks.
Psychological Symptoms
Dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety, irritability, and boredom. Evidence suggests that jobs that provide a low level of variety, significance, autonomy, feedback, and identity to incumbents create stress and reduce satisfaction and involvement in the job.
Behavioral Symptoms
Changes in the productivity, absence, and turnover, eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE
Is it always a negative relationship?
Relationship Between Stress and Job Performance Inverted-U
With low and high stress we have low job performance. With moderate level of stress we have high performance. Generally it is good to induce an amount of job stress enough to give a sense of urgency. Anything more than that can cause unwanted symptoms which can be harmful for both people and organizations.
DO YOU THINK PEOPLE CAN MANAGE THEIR STRESS?
Managing Stress
Individual Approaches
Time Management Making daily lists of
activities to be accomplished
Prioritize activities according to priorities and urgency
Handling the most important parts of your job during the high part of your cycle
Individual Approaches
Physical Exercise Aerobics Walking Jogging Swimming Riding a bicycle
Individual Approaches
Relaxation Techniques
Meditation
Hypnosis
Biofeedback
Individual Approaches
Expanding Social Support Network
Family Friends Colleagues
Organizational Approaches
Improved personnel selection and job placement
Training Use of realistic goal
setting, redesigning of jobs
Increased employee involvement
Improved organizational communication
Offering employee sabbaticals
Establishment of corporate wellness programs